KANSAS CITY, Mo. — More proof that desperate times call for desperate measures: At least one group of Kansas City Chiefs fans is now trying to turn misery into profit.
Sports Time Fan Shop, a sports apparel store in Wichita, Kan., is currently running a unique sale: All Chiefs apparel is 50 percent off until either the woebegone franchise wins a game — the 1-7 squad has lost five in a row — or until its embattled general manager, Scott Pioli, is fired.
“Our owner has been a huge Chiefs fan since he was a little kid,” store manager Valerie Becker told FOXSportsKansasCity.com. “So he’s finally fed up. Which is amazing, because he’s usually pretty calm about this.”
Becker said the promotion is the brainchild of Sports Time’s owner, Joe Ward, and the store’s marketing guru, Brian Becker, who also happens to be her husband. The sale began last Tuesday and was promoted in television ads that began running in the greater Wichita television market last Thursday.
“Since (then),” she said, “it’s been going like crazy.”
And yet, Valerie admits, some fans are so angry at the club that they can’t bring themselves to spend one more dime on Chiefs merchandise, even at a severely discounted rate.
“(One man) said, ‘I’m just going to look around, I’m not going to buy anything. I can’t even pull my wallet out (because) it has a Chiefs logo (on it),” she recalled with a chuckle. “He said, ‘I can’t even pull it out.’”
Another fan, noticing the signs promoting the sale, asked Valerie how long Sports Time planned to extend the discount.
“’Are you going to carry this into next year?’ ” Becker recalled. “They said, ‘You might have to.’”
Becker said the sale is slated to end when the regular season ends on December 30. But, like a lot of Chiefs fans, she hopes the ending comes a whole lot sooner than that.
You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter @seankeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com
